"It just provides a fallback position in case there is some declaration of unconstitutionality or some of the anti-death-penalty groups are able to shut down the flow of chemicals that are required to carry out executions."
—Jim Hood, on why alternate methods for the death penalty are necessary
Why it stinks: Last week, Attorney General Jim Hood called on state lawmakers to approve an alternative way to administer the death penalty in case the state is prevented from administering lethal injections. Those alternate means include a firing squad, electrocution or nitrogen gas. According to an Associated Press report, executions are on hold in Mississippi because the state's lethal drug supply expired.
Having lawmakers spend time debating bringing back World War II-style execution methods, deemed inhumane by human-rights groups, is a huge waste of time—not to mention patently inhumane.
More like this story
- Cruel & Unusual? The Death Penalty’s Trials in Mississippi
- Mississippi House Proposes Firing Squad as Execution Method
- Missouri Appeal Could Delay Mississippi Death Penalty Case
- States Consider Reviving Old-Fashioned Executions
- Lethal Rejection: Will the Supreme Court's Lethal Injection Review Kill the Death Penalty?
More stories by this author
- EDITORIAL: Gov. Reeves Needs to Take ‘Essential’ Seriously for COVID-19 Social Distancing
- EDITORIAL: City Needs to Name Officers Who Shot Citizens Without Delay
- EDITORIAL: Free Press Is Not Here to Comfort the Powerful; We're Here for Truth
- EDITORIAL: Dear Mississippi Politicians, Criminal Justice Reform Is More Than Rhetoric
- EDITORIAL: Transparency in Officer Shootings Needs to Improve, Not Worsen